On Display from: Oct. 1st, 2011 - Feb. 5th, 2012

This new exhibit at the Intrepid Museum will tell the fascinating history of ejection seats in high performance military aircraft.

Since the invention of the flying machine pilots have been mindful that this new technology was not without risk. These early aviators, as far back as 1910, were considering a means of quick escape if something should go wrong. Over the next 100 years the airplane would fly higher and faster than anybody could imagine. The speed and altitude of military aircraft has increased continually since those early days and jet aircraft now fly beyond the speed of sound and at altitudes that approached the edge of Earth’s atmosphere.

This temporary exhibit will explore the development history of ejection systems and explain the split-second workings of these life saving devices. Several seats will be included in the display as well as other artifacts related to the survival needs of the air crewmen.

The exhibit, opening on October 1st and running through to February 5th, is free with general admission and will be located in our Hangar 2 exhibit gallery.